Pope Francis has called on the Roman Catholic Church to alter the Lord’s Prayer because he believes the current translation suggests God is capable of leading us into temptation.
Instead, Our father, which is the best known prayer in Christianity, should be said using the phrasing adopted by French bishops, which reads as do not let us enter into temptation.
The alternative wording used in France implies that it is through human fault that people are led to sin, rather than by God.
The pontiff made the suggestion during a televised interview on Wednesday evening, in which he claimed that the traditional phrasing was not a good translation.
I am the one who falls. It’s not him pushing me into temptation to then see how I have fallen, he continued. A father doesn’t do that, a father helps you to get up immediately. It’s Satan who leads us into temptation, that’s his department.
In quotes | Pope Francis
On free speech:You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others
On gay priests:If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?
On the environment:The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth
On misogyny:The fact is that the woman was taken from a rib [laughs loudly]. I’m joking. That was a joke
On birth control:Some think that… in order to be good Catholics we have to be like rabbits. No. We need responsible paternity
On frugality:It hurts my heart when I see a priest with the latest model car. If you like the fancy one, just think about how many children are dying of hunger
On sexual orientation:Every person, regardless of sexual orientation, ought to be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration
On ‘imperfect’ Catholics:No one can be condemned forever, because that is not the logic of the Gospel! Here I am not speaking only of the divorced and remarried, but of everyone, in whatever situation they find themselves
The prayer is part of Christian liturgical culture and memorised from childhood by hundreds of millions of Catholics.
The current wording is derived from the use of the Greek word eisenenkes, which is found in the original New Testament.